White Men Paid 3 Times As Much As Black Women In Finance: Report

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — White men in the finance industry can earn up to three times as much as black women in the same job, according to a new analysis of gender wage gaps from the city comptroller's office.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer released the new report on Tuesday, or Equal Pay Day. The annual date marks how far into the year women must work in order to earn what men earned in the previous year; thus, on average, women must work through all of 2017 and up until April 10, 2018 before earning what their male counterparts earned in 2017 alone, according to the National Committee on Pay Equity

Stringer released the "first-of-its-kind" analysis to look more closely at the gender wage gaps within specific fields. Stringer's analysis focused on traditionally male-dominated fields at the higher end of the economic spectrum, where the gender wage gap is traditionally larger.

Stringer's office analyzed the earnings of the finance industry, one of New York City's hallmark fields, finding stunning disparities between men and their female counterparts. The gender wage gap in the financial industry can be most clearly seen among financial managers, the highest-paying job analyzed in Stringer's report.

In the finance industry, white male financial managers make more than two times what women of color in the same jobs are paid; a white, male financial manager makes an average of $224,000 annually, compared to about $100,000, $91,000, and $88,000, for Hispanic, Asian-American and black women, respectively. Stringer's report found that the wage gap was smaller but still persistent for white women in the finance industry, who make 60 cents to every dollar paid to white male financial managers.

The gap persists in other high-earning fields, like software developers, according to Stringer's report. Among software developers, white, Hispanic and Asian-American women make 77 cents, 70 cents and 68 cents on every dollar paid to a white man, respectively.

"The wage gaps this report reveals, particularly for women of color, are downright despicable, and they should serve as a clarion call for action," Stringer said in a statement. "In the Comptroller’s office, we’ve led a nationwide campaign to shake up corporate America and increase gender and racial diversity in corporate boardrooms."

Stringer's report analyzed 2016 data from the American Community Survey that represented average earnings of New York City residents between the ages of 25 and 65.

You can view Stringer's full report here.

Lead image credit: Shutterstock; secondary image credit: courtesy of Scott Stringer's office